Which returned more over the last year, USO or XLV?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLV +25.6%.

Which is cheaper, USO or XLV?

XLV is cheaper, by 0.78 percentage points a year. That is about $78 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

USO vs XLV: Differences, Returns & Fees

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USO is a commodity futures fund and XLV an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USO returned +133.3% against +25.6%.

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Net assets: $1.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for United States Oil Fund, LP, and $47.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF.

USO on its own →XLV on its own →

At a glance

+133.3%

USO total return, 1 year

+25.6%

XLV total return, 1 year

0.86%

USO expense ratio

0.08%

XLV expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLV costs 0.78 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 107.7 points; XLV is far larger, $47.0bn against $1.9bn.

USO vs XLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USO	XLV
Return
Measure	USO	XLV
Total return, 1 year	+133.3%	+25.6%
Drawdown
Measure	USO	XLV
Below its high	82.3%, high on Jul 14, 2008
Benchmark
Measure	USO	XLV
What it tracks	Oil futures	Health Care Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	USO	XLV
Expense ratio	0.86%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$1.9bn	$47.0bn
Holdings
Measure	USO	XLV
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		60.6%

Method

Risk and return

Apr 21, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,070 weekly returns

USO XLV

Return

Total return edge XLV −70.9% +718.1%

Annualized edge XLV −5.8% +10.8%

Price return edge XLV −70.9% +475.4%

Risk

Volatility edge XLV 37.1% 16.5%

Max drawdown edge XLV −98.0% −37.9%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge XLV −0.02 0.60

Sortino edge XLV −0.03 0.85

Calmar edge XLV −0.06 0.28

Reading

XLV returned more: +718.1% to −70.9%. XLV swung less: 16.5% to 37.1%. XLV fell less at its worst: −37.9% to −98.0%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: USO vs XLV: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USO	XLV	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	−70.9%	+718.1%	XLV	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	−5.8%	+10.8%	XLV	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	−70.9%	+475.4%	XLV	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	37.1%	16.5%	XLV	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	26.9%	11.7%	XLV	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−98.0%	−37.9%	XLV	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	−0.02	0.60	XLV	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	−0.03	0.85	XLV	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	−0.06	0.28	XLV	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,070 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

USO United States Oil Fund, LP XLV State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer USCF State Street

What it is Holds oil futures Tracks an index of Health care

Total return, 1 year +133.3% +25.6%

Expense ratio 0.86% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 62

Net assets, USO as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLV as of Oct 27, 2026 $1.9bn $47.0bn

USO and XLV on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-55C6A9319B

USO and XLV do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. USO follows Oil futures and XLV follows Health Care Select Sector Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 USO returned +133.3% and XLV +25.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 107.7 points.
Cost. USO charges 0.86% of assets a year and XLV 0.08%, a gap of 0.78 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

USO

USO holds oil futures. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +133.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.86% a year. It sat 82.3% below its high of Jul 14, 2008 on Oct 28, 2026.

XLV

XLV tracks an index of Health care. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.6% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 62 positions, with the top ten at 60.6%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, USO or XLV?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLV +25.6%.
Which is cheaper, USO or XLV?: XLV is cheaper, by 0.78 percentage points a year. That is about $78 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

USO vs VHT USO vs XLE USO vs XLF USO vs XLU GLD vs XLV BWET vs XLV GLDM vs XLV IAU vs XLV

Where to next

USO on its own →XLV on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →XLV dividend history →XLV holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

USCF website ↗

XLV filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLV prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, USO against XLV, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-xlv

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.